Energy

Never let ‘em see you sweat: BodyBreak couple bear down and go for it in The Amazing Race Canada.

Amazing Race Canada competitors Hal Johnson and Joanne McLeod have been a relentlessly cheerful presence in Canadian homes through their brief BodyBreak fitness vignettes.

Photograph by: The Canadian Press
, Postmedia News

Hal Johnson, 56, and Joanne McLeod, 54 — better known by their faces in the BodyBreak TV fitness ads— are determined to run The Amazing Race Canada in their own way. They plan to stay cool, worry about themselves and not the other teams, and concentrate on their own game while promoting a healthy lifestyle along the way.

McLeod and Johnson, a married couple who call Oakville, Ont., home but who’ve crisscrossed the country any number of times during their BodyBreak travels, are determined not to lag at the back of the pack. As they’ve learned from their years of promoting a healthy lifestyle, though, wanting and doing are two different things.

The Amazing Race, the parent show and one of the most-watched weekly primetime television programs in Canada, had ended the night before we met the duo at a secret filming location for its Canadian version, debuting July 15. “Don’t tell me who won!” McLeod shrieked — and the couple admitted to being avid watchers.

“We PVR-ed it,” Johnson explained, somewhat sheepishly. “We’ve missed the last few weeks, so we don’t even know who’s in the final three. Don’t tell us!”

They don’t live the couch-potato lifestyle. TV isn’t their “thing.” Still, they booked TV-watching time for The Amazing Race more-or-less since the show’s inception, in 2001.

The original Race has gone through 22 seasons. The 23rd begins Sept. 29. The Race concept has been adapted to a dozen different countries, including Australia, Norway, Vietnam, France and the Philippines. The Canadian version is the latest, and when it was first announced McLeod and Johnson took a page from the old ParticipAction Canada playbook: ‘tis better to get off the couch and do than sit and watch. They applied, on a wing and a prayer, as it were, and for their efforts they were rewarded — if “rewarded” is the right word.

“For the past 25 years we’ve been travelling coast to coast doing BodyBreak, doing different activities, whether it be cycling or water-skiing or whatever,” Johnson said, pausing to wipe a bead of sweat from his brow. “But this just takes it to a whole new and other level.”

Johnson said they want to show their fellow Canadians two things.

“We want to show that, at 56 and 54, you can still get out there and do it,” he explained. “If we can, you can.”

And then their was their daughter.

“We want to show her, at 14, that, hey, your parents aren’t that old. We can still run with the young ones. If you take some of the other teams in the Race and add their ages, they wouldn’t add up to mine. Running with the young kids keeps you young.”

And one other thing.

“We thought it would be a great way to celebrate our 25th anniversary of doing BodyBreak for Canadians.”

The BodyBreak couple have seen enough seasons of The Amazing Race over the years to know that the final words in a Race clue are often the most important. No one ever won The Amazing Race who couldn’t read or write, or was in too much of a rush to notice small details like, “Walk, don’t run,” and, “Stop and smell the roses, because that’s where’ll find your next clue.”

Johnson pointed out a piece of tape on McLeod’s wrist.

“It’s there to remind her to be calm.”

Being calm cuts both ways. Johnson said when he sees the tape on his wife’s wrist, it’s a reminder to him, too, that no one ever won The Amazing Race by overreacting to every missed connection.

“Our athletic background taught us about how to focus,” Johnson said. “It’s like the Stanley Cup. Yes, it’s good to look at the prize. It’s great to look at that prize.

“But if you focus on the prize, you can’t focus on the next game. Athletes always say that, and it sounds so clichéd. ‘We’ve got to focus on the next game.’ But it really is one step at a time.”

McLeod had one more observation.

“You have to have respect for the game,” she said. “We knew, going into this, that you can go from first to being eliminated virtually overnight. Would we like to win? Sure. Will we win? We’ll just have to see.”

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